Small government equals less corruption
What is the role of government? How can we stop politicians squabbling over which of them gets what share of the sizable public purse? How can we halt ingrained corrupt practices in government? Why do we need government?
We really don’t need government. In fact, abolishing government, or most of it at least, would solve the problem of corruption. Remove the ‘national pie’ from the menu and there is no longer anything to fight over.
As for the role of government, it should be as limited as possible because too much government places intolerable limits on personal freedom. Government should do only those things that private enterprise or individuals are ill equipped to do. This includes providing for the national defense, deciding on matters of foreign policy, ensuring public order and safety, and exercising oversight over privately run public utilities and services. Everything else government does in Lebanon is unnecessary and wasteful.
But the big money to be made off the sweat and labor of honest, hard working tax payers is in the telecoms sector and the power sector, and soon, the oil exploration and exploitation sector too. This is why most third world countries that have ample resources still have high rates of illiteracy and poverty. Just like in Lebanon, holding public office in the third world is not so much a sacrifice made to serve the public good as it is a windfall for the party in power. It’s a reward for being the best liar, the one party that managed to fool the most people that they will really change things for the better.
Imagine if the law totally liberalized the power generation and distribution sector and opened the bidding for power companies like France’s EDF to come in and set up shop, maybe one or two more, thus creating healthy competition. The State would retain ownership of transmission lines as a strategic resource, and set up a power sector regulator. All EDL power production facilities and its distribution network would be sold off to these private companies. These private companies would compete in a transparent bidding process to offer the best rates and the State selects the best bids and the companies start work immediately. We would have 24-hour power inside of six months!
Imagine if the telecom sector was totally liberalized and the ‘internet tap’ was fully opened. Imagine if private companies ran our ports and airports, and collected fees, excise, and taxes on behalf of the State, earning a fair fee for their trouble. Imagine if public works was handed to a different private sector company in each Mohafaza, with the State’s only role to monitor and control the work of these companies. These companies would be answerable only to the people and their MPs in Parliament. If they did a good job they kept on, if they did a lousy job they would be fired.
What would be left to mooch off the State? The public spigot would run dry and the corrupt mandarins and their friends would have to get real jobs like the rest of us to pay the bills. This is what I call real wealth redistribution… capitalist style.
The first pioneers who went to the New World came to realize very quickly that the kings and queens of Europe (back then there was no democracy in Europe) were using their people, bleeding them dry to live the high life off their sweat and labor. They realized fairly quickly that government can be a very convenient scam for people who want to do little to no work. So, the founding fathers of that great nation drafted a constitution that made sure no tyrant would ever amass so much power as to have total control over the nation and its resources or curtail the personal freedoms of its citizenry.
Today in Lebanon we have many tiny tyrants who rule the public sphere. Some are almost invisible, acting behind the scenes, in fact most people wouldn’t know their names, but they exist and they have backing from one party or leader or another. We have lost so many of our freedoms without even realizing it. We have been brought to the brink of despair. We have lost interest in the democratic process. This is exactly what they want; they want a people who have given up, who have lost hope, who can be ruled easily. We are the rulers not the ruled. Those in public office serve us, not the other way around. We can’t keep leaving this country whenever we face obstacles. This country is all we have and we should take it back, we the people.
We really don’t need government. In fact, abolishing government, or most of it at least, would solve the problem of corruption. Remove the ‘national pie’ from the menu and there is no longer anything to fight over.
As for the role of government, it should be as limited as possible because too much government places intolerable limits on personal freedom. Government should do only those things that private enterprise or individuals are ill equipped to do. This includes providing for the national defense, deciding on matters of foreign policy, ensuring public order and safety, and exercising oversight over privately run public utilities and services. Everything else government does in Lebanon is unnecessary and wasteful.
But the big money to be made off the sweat and labor of honest, hard working tax payers is in the telecoms sector and the power sector, and soon, the oil exploration and exploitation sector too. This is why most third world countries that have ample resources still have high rates of illiteracy and poverty. Just like in Lebanon, holding public office in the third world is not so much a sacrifice made to serve the public good as it is a windfall for the party in power. It’s a reward for being the best liar, the one party that managed to fool the most people that they will really change things for the better.
Imagine if the law totally liberalized the power generation and distribution sector and opened the bidding for power companies like France’s EDF to come in and set up shop, maybe one or two more, thus creating healthy competition. The State would retain ownership of transmission lines as a strategic resource, and set up a power sector regulator. All EDL power production facilities and its distribution network would be sold off to these private companies. These private companies would compete in a transparent bidding process to offer the best rates and the State selects the best bids and the companies start work immediately. We would have 24-hour power inside of six months!
Imagine if the telecom sector was totally liberalized and the ‘internet tap’ was fully opened. Imagine if private companies ran our ports and airports, and collected fees, excise, and taxes on behalf of the State, earning a fair fee for their trouble. Imagine if public works was handed to a different private sector company in each Mohafaza, with the State’s only role to monitor and control the work of these companies. These companies would be answerable only to the people and their MPs in Parliament. If they did a good job they kept on, if they did a lousy job they would be fired.
What would be left to mooch off the State? The public spigot would run dry and the corrupt mandarins and their friends would have to get real jobs like the rest of us to pay the bills. This is what I call real wealth redistribution… capitalist style.
The first pioneers who went to the New World came to realize very quickly that the kings and queens of Europe (back then there was no democracy in Europe) were using their people, bleeding them dry to live the high life off their sweat and labor. They realized fairly quickly that government can be a very convenient scam for people who want to do little to no work. So, the founding fathers of that great nation drafted a constitution that made sure no tyrant would ever amass so much power as to have total control over the nation and its resources or curtail the personal freedoms of its citizenry.
Today in Lebanon we have many tiny tyrants who rule the public sphere. Some are almost invisible, acting behind the scenes, in fact most people wouldn’t know their names, but they exist and they have backing from one party or leader or another. We have lost so many of our freedoms without even realizing it. We have been brought to the brink of despair. We have lost interest in the democratic process. This is exactly what they want; they want a people who have given up, who have lost hope, who can be ruled easily. We are the rulers not the ruled. Those in public office serve us, not the other way around. We can’t keep leaving this country whenever we face obstacles. This country is all we have and we should take it back, we the people.
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